


Over the Years

by anyothergirl415



Category: Real Person Fiction
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-04
Updated: 2011-11-04
Packaged: 2017-10-26 23:19:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/288990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anyothergirl415/pseuds/anyothergirl415
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a friend, for the prompt "them getting older." Short and unbeta'd :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	Over the Years

Something sharp and painful shot up his foot, rippling up along his leg, and Chad hissed as fell to the ground. Everything spun and tilted dangerously and Chad caught just a flash of incoming pavement before his face smashed into the surface.

This was a bad day.

“Did you just trip over your own shoelace?”

The boy’s voice was clearly unimpressed and Chad pressed his lips hard together. He would _not_ cry. Chad was a big boy and he did not cry, even when he tripped and fell and made himself look stupid. Even when it was his first day at a new school and he already knew he wasn’t going to make any friends or anything. Chad kind of hated his stupid parents for making move in the middle of second grade.

His old school was so much cooler.

“Hey, kid, did you die or something?”

Oh yeah, Chad kind of forgot about unimpressed boy that was here to clearly make fun of him. Scowling, Chad pushed his hands into the pavement and stood, shoving his hands over his new clean clothes. There was a hole in his stupid dress slacks his Grandma had bought for his birthday and well, that’s what she got for getting him clothes in the first place.

“Are you like, a retard or something?”

Chad’s eyes shot up, fixing and narrowing on the boy still watching him. He had weird blue grey eyes and short dark hair and a smirk that instantly made him look older. Usually, older boys were trouble, so Chad tensed his shoulders and tried not to fidget or show signs of weakness. “You shouldn’t talk like that.”

“No? You gonna tell my mom or something?” The boy laughed, eyeing Chad for a moment then stepping forward and punching his shoulder. “C’mon blondie, walk with me and I’ll make sure you don’t trip over your feet again.”

Rubbing at his shoulder, Chad weighed the pros and cons of walking with the older kid. They were a few blocks from school, it’d probably be pretty weird if he turned and ran or something, so walking together it was. That didn’t mean he had to like it.

“What’s your name anyway?” The boy asked and shrugged when Chad looked over at him. “I could keep callin’ you blondie if you want.”

“You’re a jerk.” Chad kicked at a rock in front of him then sighed when the boy bumped their shoulders hard together. “It’s Chad. What’s yours?”

“Christian.” A surprisingly strong arm dropped hard over his shoulder and tugged him too close, knuckles digging hard into his scalp a moment later in a rough noogie - the kind Chad really hated. “Stick with me blondie, I’ll look after you.”

As Chad fell into step beside the boy and the arm over his shoulders slowly fell away, he found it wasn’t all that hard to believe.

-===-

“Do you want the red one or the blue?” Chad looked up from his bucket of Halloween candy, over to the desk where Christian sat sorting through his own collection. When the boy didn’t look up or give any indication he’d heard anything, Chad sighed and chucked the blue soldier action figure at him.

“Fuck off asshole!” Christian snapped back instantly, giving Chad a glare that was just the right side of under heated, as usual. “You got any Twix?”

“No, you already ate all mine.” Chad snorted and pulled out a fun size pack of M&Ms, tearing it open with his teeth. “Pretty sure we won’t be able to get away with trick-or-treating next year.”

Christian smirked and pushed out of the desk chair, carrying his candy to the bed and dropping down on his stomach beside Chad. “Yeah I doubt it. Mrs. Greenwood looked like she was about to smack us both with her cane when we turned up at her door.”

Heat crawled through Chad as Christian’s shoulder came to rest against his and Chad stared down at his candy, waiting for the feeling to pass. It had been happening a lot lately - Chad was pretty sure he knew what it meant but he couldn’t really go there. Sometimes being thirteen sucked. Or all the time really. At least when you kept having these thoughts and feelings about your best friend.

“So, I made out with Katie,” Christian said with that smug air he got whenever he was saying something that he knew would make him sound older and cooler. Like when he scored them both a beer from his dad’s cooler or when he’d found that cigarette they’d tried in the ditch a few weeks back.

Only, this was a lot worse. Because Chad felt like his heart was gonna burst out of his chest or something. Screw what he’d thought before, thirteen more than sucked, it was like hell. But Christian was still his best friend, first and foremost, and Chad wasn’t really gay anyway so he should be relieved girl’s were coming into the picture. He was mostly just annoyed someone was going to be taking Christian away from him.

“Whatever man,” Chad forced himself to huff, rolling his eyes as he dug through his candy. “Katie’ll make out with a dog if you pay her enough.”

“Jealousy is not your share blondie,” Christian teased and bumped hard into him. “Stop being a douche, it just makes you look stupid. More stupid.”

Chad frowned for just a moment then pasted on a smile and threw the last Twix hiding in the bottom of his bowl at Christian’s forehead. “Just don’t come crying to me when you catch some disease from that slut.”

Christian’s brows rose and they held gazes for a long moment before the older boy laughed and cuffed Chad on the back of the head, tugging him in for something closer to a wrestling move than a hug. “God you’re an asshole.”

Even with the insult, and the burn of heat from the touch, Chad couldn’t imagine anywhere better to be.

-===-

There was just the brief flash of flesh and Chad scrunched up his face, bracing himself for impact. Like some type of movie or something the hallway fell into silence for just a beat and Chad swallowed the bitter taste of blood in the back of his throat. God, he hated the taste of blood.

It felt like minutes but was probably just a couple of heartbeats and suddenly the crowd around them was pressing closer, forming a circle, calling out a steady familiar chant of _fight, fight, fight_.

High school. Such a fucking stereotype.

Chad wasn’t actually entirely sure what he’d done to piss off Brody but he wasn’t that surprised. Brody was always mad at him for some thing or anything. Usually though, the kid wasn’t stupid enough to go through with his threats. Because, well, usually, Chad had his own personal body guard.

The problem was, Christian was currently MIA and now Chad was ducking the next swinging fist, leg kicking out to sweep along the back of Brody’s legs and send him crashing down onto the tiled floor. That was all it took for Brody’s friends to join in. As Brody’s hand curled around his ankle, Marcus leaped forward and jumped up on his back, arms wrapping tight around his neck, cutting off his air supply.

The cheering grew louder, echoing around them, and Chad knew it was only a matter of moments until teachers stopped them. He was pretty sure he could hold out that long - and damnit, where the hell was Christian any way? Christian was the one who intimidated the assholes, he was the one who had Chad’s back, and he hadn’t even texted Chad back that morning when he didn’t show up at their usual meeting spot.

“Boys! Honestly, break it up!” The teachers finally made their appearance, pulling Marcus from Chad’s back and Brody from the place he’d taken up at Chad’s front.

Chad’s nose was bleeding full force, his throat felt raw and sore, his head was aching, and Mrs. O’Brien was already fixing him with a look that suggested his fate was already sealed. Having a reputation wasn’t really all that great.

“Mr. Murray, go on to the nurse, you’re getting blood all over the hallway.”

The pain radiating through Chad was intense but it was nothing compared to shouldering through the crowd by himself. Because when it came down to it, no one else put up with him outside Christian, everyone else had written him off long ago.

Chad didn’t so much like feeling this alone.

-===-

“Chad! Christian’s here!”

It was the only real warning Chad had before there was a loud crash at his bedroom door. That was actually kind of satisfying, knowing Christian had basically just walked into the door - likely expecting it to be unlocked as usual. He smirked - then winced - as Christian swore then banged on the hard wood. “What the fuck Chad? Let me in!”

“Christian Kane, language!”

Leave it to his mother to not even care what physical state Chad was in when he’d gotten home from school but still call Christian out on swear words. “Sorry Mrs. M,” Christian called back then his fist was hitting the door once more. “Chad? Come on man, I know you’re in there, let me in.”

When it came down to it, Chad had a hard time denying Christian anything. That might be a little because Chad was head over heels in love with his best friend but that wasn’t something he’d be admitting any time soon. He was currently mad at Christian - or trying to be - and still he somehow couldn’t stop himself from climbing off the bed and crossing the room, tugging the door open.

But he didn’t let Christian in, simply leaned against the door frame and arched his brows, ignoring the flare of pain that rippled out with the action.

“Fuck, I didn’t hear it was so bad,” Christian said quietly and stepped forward, reaching out to slide his thumb over the bruise just beneath Chad’s eyes.

The touch sent something like sparks through Chad and he looked away, lifting his shoulder and rolling back as if it were nothing. Like he didn’t feel a little betrayed by Christian. “What the hell happened to you today?”

Christian sighed and took another step forward, frowning when Chad didn’t move. “Chad, come on, let me in. What’s wrong with you? Man, you’re not pissed about today are you? I’m here now.”

Swallowing a sigh, Chad dipped his head down and stepped back, allowing Christian to step into the room. “Not pissed,” he mumbled - mostly to keep Christian from teasing him about it - and pushed the door shut. “So you gonna tell me?”

Christian shot him a smirk over his shoulder and Chad’s heart clenched in a way that hurt more than any punch in the face. Chad knew that look, he’d seen it on Christian’s face far too many times before. “Man... I met this girl.”

Closing his eyes, Chad let himself slowly sink down onto the bed and took just a moment to wallow in self pity - who the hell fell in love with the straight best friend anyway? When he managed to get his eyes open once more his smile didn’t feel quite as forced. “Guess that means you spent the day getting laid.”

“At least one of us is getting some,” Christian muttered, his look a little too knowing.

And just about the time Chad considered kicking him out, telling Christian to get lost because he couldn’t take this anymore - the being in love with someone who kind of treated him like a running practical joke sometimes, a lot of the time - the boy was dropping beside him on the bed and holding the discarded ice pack against his eye. “Don’t worry, tomorrow I’ll make sure Brody gets what he deserves.”

Who was Chad kidding? He’d never be able to turn Christian away.

-===-

All the words were blurring together and that was probably a sign that Chad needed to close the book and go to bed. Of course, he’d thought that no short of twenty times in the last hour. There was a pretty good chance Chad was just too lazy to get up and go to bed at this point.

Chad’s book swayed closer and he dipped forward, considering simply sleeping on his desk. It wouldn’t be the first time. But the sudden sharp rap of a fist at his front door had him jerking up, eyes fluttering open. Why there was someone at his door at almost two in the morning he wasn’t entirely sure but it was most likely just Jared from down the hall. That kid was always missing something - or locking himself out - he was worse than Chad in the _fail_ department.

Only, when he opened the door, it wasn’t Jared. It was Christian. And that just, didn’t happen that often. Not since Chad had gone to college, grown up, matured, whatever. Sure, they still spoke a lot on the phone, but Christian was seeing someone and kind of wrapped up in that and Chad was trying not to think about how he couldn’t even hold down a relationship more than a couple of weeks because he was so madly in love with the man who’d never know.

Thinking about all that now wasn’t so good. Especially since Christian didn’t really look too good. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

“No where to go.” Christian shrugged, stumbling half a step forward than back. When Chad sighed Christian rubbed along the back of his neck then dug his fingers into his hair. “Took a cab.”

“You’re drunk.” It was a statement really because Chad had seen Christian drunk countless times. Chad should send Christian back out to the cab, make him go home, because things always got _weird_ when his best friend was drunk. And not a good weird. “Why don’t you just head home Christian?”

Christian sighed heavily and leaned against the door frame. “Macy kicked me out. Pretty sure for good this time. Chad... man, can I just crash here?”

And well, Chad had never been able to turn Christian away. So he nodded and stepped back. And he helped Christian from his shoes, shirt, and jeans. Tucked him under the blankets on the free side of the bed. Convinced him to drink a glass of water and talk a couple of pain pills. All these things Chad had done so many times over the years.

That was the thing about Christian, like that magnetic pull Chad couldn’t escape. Didn’t want to escape. Instead he slid across the sheets and curled against Christian’s side, looped an arm over his body, held him close like he only ever did when Christian was too drunk to protest. And he closed his eyes and pretend that this was his, just because he could.

-===-

Waking up to someone staring at you was kind of unnerving. Chad wasn’t really used to it - at all, if he were honest, with just himself. It’s not like anyone else had ever spent the night in his bed. So blinking his eyes open and finding the stormy grey blue of Christian’s right _there_ was kind of freaky.

Enough to make Chad flinch back a couple of inches, distinctly aware of the fact that they were both in boxers, that his arm was still over Christian’s waist, that his heart was thudding painfully in his chest. Chad was actually a little concerned Christian could hear its steady pulse thumping, but if he could he didn’t show it. Just continued to stare until Chad was left squirming uncomfortably.

When had Christian’s arm hooked around his body anyway?

“Hung over?” He finally asked because the silence was too much and Christian was starting to freak him the fuck out.

“Not really. Wasn’t that drunk,” Christian murmured and shifted just a little closer. “Chad.”

That steady thud thud of his heart stutter stopped for a moment and Chad closed his eyes, knowing there was no way to hide the rise of color up across his cheeks. It wasn’t fair that it was coming down to this. Christian would finally figure it out, put it together, realize that for for fourteen years he’d been the center of Chad’s world. And when he realized just how much Chad cared - how in love he was - Christian was going to cut himself off completely.

And just around the time Chad was about to shove back, stand up, turn away before Christian could read too much into _anything_ the man was moving once more. Their lips crashed sloppy wet together, Christian tasted like stale alcohol - go figure - and Chad’s heart lodged up in his throat painfully.

It was never something Chad expected to have happen to him, Christian’s lips against his, and something close to shock kept him rooted to the spot. Processing this was almost impossible. Christian, lips, kissing, heat, all those feelings Chad had spent almost ten years trying to hide and bury to keep from losing the most important person in his world. He had long since accepted the idea that he would never have Christian. And then there was this.

It was enough of a hard slap of reality to have Chad pulling back, blinking wide eyed at Christian. “What...”

“Don’t, please, don’t freak out,” Christian said softly and curled his fingers along the back of Chad’s neck, keeping him from moving further. “I need you, Chad.”

A few times over the years Christian had said something along those lines - when he drank too much, when his parents split up during their last year of high school, after one failed relationship that had ended brutally. But the light in Christian’s eyes suggested something so much more and Chad sucked in a slow breath, trying to understand what he’d missed that had kept this truth from him.

Because it kind of looked like Christian was feeling _things_ and Chad should have known that before now. “What do you need?” He asked in a tight whisper, not quite sure he could get any other questions out, no matter how many he may have.

“You. I- I always need you Chad. Always have. I want... just. You’re the only one who doesn’t make me hate who I am.” Christian tugged him closer, letting their foreheads drop to rest together. “Please, I know you feel the same.”

“Jesus,” Chad nearly hissed and pushed back, rolling off the side of the bed and standing. He needed clothes for this conversation. And Christian needed to brush his teeth or something because things just felt _off_ with the lingering taste of stale beer on his lips. “You’re- you don’t even know what you’re saying. Are you still drunk or something?”

Christian groaned softly and rolled off the bed as well, pushing up to his feet and looking around for his shirt. “You would know if I was drunk. I meant it.”

“Oh, so you meant that the only reason you need me is because you know I love you?” Chad narrowed his eyes in a glare, staring hard at Christian even when the man slowly looked up and met his gaze. “You do realize that’s basically what you said right? And just- _god_ you have some fucking nerve. How dare you use that against me? I’m not going to be your, safety net or whatever the hell it is you’re looking for. I’m not going to let you come to me to make you feel better just so you can leave again when you’re back to your usual asshole self.”

Christian’s eyes were wide, likely because Chad wasn’t really the type to yell and rant at him in such a way. He slowly shook his head and let the shirt in his hands fall to the floor, taking an uneasy step toward Chad. “You’re... so wrong. Fuck, Chad. That’s not- I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I don’t need you because you love me. I wasn’t even really sure you felt that strongly, I just thought, sometimes you look at me like... damnit. This isn’t fair.”

Chad huffed an unamused laugh and finally turned away - mostly to keep Christian from seeing the hint of tears pricking up along his eyes. “You’re telling me. Try being in love with your best friend for nearly ten years and never having him return the feelings.”

About the moment - a heartbeat or two later - than Chad realized exactly what he’d said, Christian seemed to register it as well. At least, that was most likely the reason Christian’s eyes were suddenly wide, his mouth parted with surprise. “You... ten years? Jesus, why didn’t you ever tell me? Why would you keep that from me?”

All the anger and irritation Chad had previously been feeling fell away, his shoulders slumping as he admitted to some kind of defeat. There was no denying it now. His secret was out and Christian was going to... who knows. “How could I tell you when you were always caught up in someone? Or teasing me about something. How would you ever have taken me serious? And how was I supposed to know I wouldn’t lose you?”

“Lose me?” Christian repeated softly and Chad could hear him stepping slowly closer, braced himself moments before Christian’s hand came to settle over his arm. “Chad, god, I know you’re not really this big of an idiot.”

Chad’s head snapped up, his jaw clenching in self defense. But Christian was simply smiling softly at him, his hair falling across his face, and Chad’s heart did that familiar start stop restart at just how beautiful the man was. Even now, when he’d not had the best night and was possibly a little hung over. “Don’t just make me assume. Spell it out.” Chad sighed when Christian simply frowned in response. “If you want me, if you _really_ need me in your life like that, then tell me. You know, since I’m an idiot and all.”

“Hey, shut up,” Christian murmured and slid his hands up into Chad’s hair. “Only I get to call you an idiot.” He pulled Chad forward once more and gently brushed their lips together, not trying to deepen for more this time. “Somewhere along the line, I think I fell for you. Pretty damn hard. But you know I’ve always been a bit stupid when it comes to _feelings_.”

“A bit?” Chad whispered, something like a gasped moan, because hearing Christian say _that_ was the best thing imaginable.

“More than.” Christian laughed and stepped back, turning to head across the room.

Chad couldn’t stand the idea of Christian leaving - not now, not after everything - so he hurried to quickly follow. “Where are you going?”

Christian threw him a smirk over his shoulder. “I’ve gotta borrow your toothbrush. Need to show you just how much I really do need you after all.”

Chad fell back against the wall and grinned at Christian’s form disappearing into the bathroom. He supposed he could wait a few minutes more.

-===-

The door smacked Chad hard in the side of the head and he closed his eyes, blowing out a shaky breath to keep from losing it. He was halfway tempted to throw the bags in his arms onto the floor and call it a fucking day but well, that probably wouldn’t go over so well. After all, the food supply in the kitchen was getting a little pathetically low. And they both liked their food.

“One of those days?”

Despite feeling annoyed after a day where everything bad that could happen, did, Chad’s lips twitched in a small smile. It was just, Christian. He always had that affect on Chad. Especially as he stepped forward and scooped the bags from Chad’s arms, easily carrying them into the kitchen.

“Come on, I’ll make you dinner.”

Chad let the door fall shut behind him and tossed his keys on the hall table, kicking out of his shoes a moment later. “Like, actually make? Something that doesn’t involve you picking up the phone and dialing?”

“Fucker, you’ll be lucky to get a piece of bread with that attitude,” Christian called over his shoulder and Chad grinned, heading down the hall maybe a little too eagerly. After all, he hadn’t seen Christian all day and he missed him.

One step into the kitchen and Christian was suddenly there, grabbing his shirt collar and tugging him sharply forward. Their lips slid together in a familiar, always dizzying glide. Chad moaned instantly and wrapped his arms around his lover, holding him closer because he could never get enough.

When Christian pulled back there was already a smile on his lips and Chad mirrored it automatically. “Just stick with me blondie, I’ll make sure you get a proper meal.”

Chad’s grin grew and his arms around Christian tightened further. “Yeah, okay, whatever you say.”

~End  



End file.
